


Sleeping Beauty

by Elmina



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-15 21:13:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10557792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elmina/pseuds/Elmina
Summary: One afternoon, Mika and Shu end up watching the other sleep.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bielefelts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bielefelts/gifts).



Mika hurried his way through the corridor, making sure not to run. It was late in the afternoon already, and he was more than happy to have finished his in-campus job early. This way, he’d have more time for handicraft club activities, and seeing they were in the middle of making a set of outfits, he wanted to be there in case Shu needed his help. Admittedly, that “help” was mostly limited to getting him tea, but that didn’t make any difference.

He opened the door only to find that it was awfully quiet in the club room. “Mentor?” He called. Maybe Shu wasn’t in? That would have been unusual though, as he had said earlier that he would be spending all afternoon in there.

“Me-” He started again, then spotted the person he was looking for lying against the table. At first the sight startled him, but he soon realized Shu was just sleeping. Now that he thought of it, hadn’t Shu said something about being unable to sleep properly with all his workload lately…? Exhaustion must have gotten the better of him.

Hesitating a little, Mika first considered waking him up, but on the other hand, a short nap could do wonders, right? Maybe ten minutes or so… He picked up a blanket from the back of the room and spread it over Shu’s sleeping form.

“Should let him sleep for just a bit,” he whispered to Mademoiselle, who was set down on the table near Shu’s work station. He leaned over and slightly moved the garment Shu had been working on so that it wouldn’t get messed up, then carefully picked up any pins and such that were on the table and set them on the pin cushion. Shu had been holding a needle which was now lying near his hand, and Mika picked up that one as well.

After getting all that done, he sat down in the nearest chair. It was better not to touch any of the work laid out right now, not without instructions, so he could just wait for a while until Shu woke up. Working on any of his usual side projects was out of the question, he figured, since he’d surely end up making noise.

The room was quiet and calming like this, and he relaxed in his chair, his eyes studying Shu. He was sleeping so peacefully, like there were no deadlines or such to worry about. A temporary respite maybe, but Mika knew that it was a much needed one.

He couldn’t help but admire that perfectly calm face now that he got the chance. Certainly, he had no eyes for anyone but Shu to begin with, but staring at him like this was usually out of the question.

“Yer really pretty, Mentor,” he pondered quietly. “Ya keep callin’ me a doll, but lookin’ at ya like this…” Smiling at his own words, he tilted his head a little, caressing those handsome features with his eyes. It was the truth, but Mika had to wonder if Shu would really care to actually hear something like that from him.

He turned to look at the door, then slipped out of the chair and crossed the room. If someone was to barge in now, that would be problematic, wouldn’t it? So it was better to lock the door. He did just that and returned to his seat, wondering if it would be better if he himself just left the room. On the other hand, he didn’t dare to leave Shu alone in a vulnerable state like this. Besides, what if he started looking for him after waking up? That wouldn’t do.

“I ain’t goin’ anywhere,” he quietly whispered. “So ya just sleep for a bit. I’ll be right here.”

He leaned an arm on the table and looked at Shu again, studying him. It was such a delicate face his mentor had, and Mika wondered if everyone else appreciated it enough. There were people who counted as friends, but a lot of Valkyrie’s appeal came from aesthetics. Did everyone else actually realize how perfect Shu was? The thought troubled his brain for a good while.

Time passed in silence, with Mika just simply looking at Shu and thinking, until his eyelids started slowly getting heavier and heavier…

* * * * * * * *

“Kage… hira…?”

Opening his eyes lazily, Shu fixed his gaze on the angelic face nearby, with a smile so captivating that he wished he could have admired it for eternity - or at least until he realized he had been sleeping on the job, leaning on his arm and making a mess of everything he had been working on. Wait, where was that coat he had been sewing?

“Non! What is this, I…” At that point he nearly fell from his chair and had to regain his balance. There had been a blanket laid over him, but it dropped to the floor, and that snapped him out of his panicked state of mind and he took a moment to assess his surroundings and analyze the situation. There were a few garments around, his last project included; it had simply been moved a bit to the side. Someone had also collected the loose pins from the table, and the pin cushion had been moved towards the center of the table near Mademoiselle.

Mika hadn’t moved one bit so far, and Shu realized he was sleeping. What was that useless doll doing? Wasting time like this! All right, who was he to blame anyone for wasting time, seeing he had himself just woken up. Speaking of that, what was the time?

Quick check told him that he had been out for near forty minutes, and he just settled down in his chair and sighed. He had several projects to work on, and now his schedule was ruined and the time allotted to each one would have to be recalculated. Kagehira would be of no use, of course, since these pieces needed delicacy. In worst case scenario, he would probably have to consider asking Aoba’s help again.

It couldn’t be helped, then, he decided. He reached out to shake Mika by the shoulder, but his hand stopped right before he touched the boy, and he drew it away, his eyes wandering on that beautiful face again. Such perfection, so pleasing to look at, and the smile on his face… Shu could swear that if he could somehow get _that_ out of this mindless doll on stage, their lives would always have a full house. There was nobody in the whole academy who could put on a look _this_ perfect, not even anyone in the theater club.

He had to wonder what it was that made Mika smile like that, in his sleep on top of everything. Mika smiled a lot, but this particular smile Shu wasn’t sure if he had seen before. There was something ethereal about it, and he couldn’t really describe it in words. Whatever it was, he made a mental note to ask about it later; after all, _no matter_ what it was, it would definitely help him perfect their next stage performance.

“Hmph, ask,” he muttered under his breath. Like this idiot knew anything and could answer something like that. It made no difference, because then he’d just have to keep a close eye on Kagehira. The moment he’d spot the cause of that smile, he’d know, and then… 

The conclusion made him smile, and he leaned back on his chair a little and studied his doll for a moment. He had no complaints on the current form, and besides, like this? At least Kagehira wasn’t talking too much for once, seeing he had that fault compared to Shu’s perfect creation Nito, but then, back on topic - had he ever seen a smile this perfect on Nito’s face? 

Once again determined to make sure he would find out the reason for that smile, he glanced at Mademoiselle, only to be reminded that he was wasting time. He needed to get back to sewing, and he needed to send a message to Aoba, and he was angry at himself for all this idling. This wasn’t like him, being distracted by… At that point his eyes found the sleeping Mika’s face once again, and he froze. There was so much warmth in that smile, like there was something above anything else in the whole world for him, and Shu still didn’t know how to properly describe it. 

While he was once again trying to find the ideal words, his object of interest suddenly moved. Mika yawned a little, opened his eyes and stretched himself. He then caught Shu on the side, looking straight at him. “…Huh? Mentor?” 

“What?” Shu replied sharply, quickly composing himself. “About time you woke up, I need you to take a message.” 

Mika looked at him happily. “Anything ya need,” he replied with a smile and a slight nod, and for a moment, Shu thought he had seen that ethereal beauty of an angel return. 

Or was he just imagining things? 

**End.**

**Author's Note:**

> Birthday gift to Poppy.


End file.
